Daily Archives: November 30, 2012

Last week, after years of avoiding it, I finally got a taste of that gluttonous Thanksgiving tradition — not turkey, not gravy and definitely not pumpkin pie, I stuff myself with those each and every year — no sir, I speak of Black Friday.

It was an unplanned but very orderly experience that was over within an hour. It wasn’t anything like the pandemonium you often hear associated with Black Friday, but then again, I was standing in line at midnight with a bunch of geeks at a Gamestop store to pick up something for my nephew.

I’d never even considered such a feat before, so it was nice to stick my toe in the proverbial pool and find out the water’s really not that cold. But I do intend to remain faithful, nonetheless, to online shopping at Christmas; it’s just so easy.

No lines, no crazy soccer moms, no crabby sales associates, and best of all, you can shop for just about anything without leaving your living room whilst updating your fantasy football lineup or checking your Facebook feed.

November 30, 2012Comments Off on Wildcats end playoff run with 44-23 loss to Kenny

Going into last Friday night’s football game between the Wildcats and the Bishop Kenny Crusaders both teams knew a very simple fact. One of them was going to make history.

Neither team had progressed beyond the second round of the state playoffs and somebody was going to be hosting a third-round game against Tallahassee Godby. The question was who would be playing this Friday night and who would be sitting at home thinking of what might have been.

In the end it was Bishop Kenny that would avenge a district championship loss to the Wildcats three weeks ago with an emphatic 44-23 victory.

Going into the game, the Cats were certain of one thing – to beat Kenny you had to stop their vaunted passing game. That was a given, and they prepared to do just that.

For the first time all season, the Wildcats started the game with three down linemen, daring the Crusaders to run the ball. The added linebacker was to provide double coverage support on UF recruit Ahmad Fulwood and Mo Tapper, who had hurt the Wildcats with his receptions in the district game.

Baker County High School’s varsity Hi-Q team swept the district tournament this week, topping teams from Columbia and Union counties on its way to another district trophy.

The academic competition pits two teams of four players each against one another in a quiz show-like game using buzzers to quickly answer questions for points on variety of topics from science and math to geography and literature.

The varsity line-up of Sarah Harrell, Reagan McKendree, Megan Anderson, Chase Brannan, Kailey Murphy, Kaitlyn Corder and Forrest Elledge secured the title in the final match against Union County, scoring 175 points to 130 for their opponents.

Winning by a wide margin is nothing new for the team, which has been on a roll since the season began in October. Varsity players entered the tournament undefeated at 6-0.

“We kick butt and take names,” Ms. Anderson said after her team was presented with the district trophy at Christian Fellowship Temple in Macclenny shortly after noon on November 27.

The varsity squad beat Columbia County by 75 points for an appearance in the final match.

November 30, 2012Comments Off on Commission shuffles funds to balance 2011-12 budget

The Baker County Commission voted 4-1 last week to make about $1.6 million in retroactive changes to the 2011-12 budget that ended September 30.

Most of the sum, $1.4 million, consisted of amendments needed to reflect over-budget spending in a number of areas. The remaining amount, $238,407, were transfers of expenses from one area of the budget to another.

The county is required by law to have a budget that reflects actual spending down to the departmental level.

“What is this?” asked Commissioner Adam Giddens when the matter came up at the board’s regulator meeting November 20.